XplrNZ an exciting new FREE iPhone LBS app from AA Tourism

Forums › GPS, maps and mapping software › XplrNZ an exciting new FREE iPhone LBS app from AA Tourism

PDAMan

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#73198 10-Dec-2010 17:25

A couple of years ago I started talking to the guys from i-Visit who were building an LBS application for tourism based around mobiles with GPS. I got really excited about what they were doing and got them plugged into GeoSmart maps and API's, then introduced them to AA Tourism.

Well the rest is now history and they have now launched an awesome application concept called XplrNZ and did I mention that it's free.

Utilising GPS the iPhone obviously knows where it is and from there the app includes

Augmented Reality (camera view)

GeoSmart Interactive Maps

Location Based Hot Deals

Accommodation Search and booking

101 Must Do’s

Great Kiwi Road Trips

Traveller Reviews

For more information including the Appstore link go here Try it out and let me know what you think and please talk to me if you need accurate maps and tools for any apps you are looking at developing. In case you are wondering, an Android version is on the way.

XplrNZ

Luigi
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Technofreak

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#419265 20-Dec-2010 00:15

What about one for Symbian?

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Ragnor

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#419281 20-Dec-2010 01:50

What's the rough time frames for the android release?

nakedmolerat

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#419284 20-Dec-2010 02:08

Yeah, android release please :-)

PDAMan

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#419299 20-Dec-2010 07:33

As far as I know, no plans for Symbian. Will see what I can find out about Android timetable.

Luigi
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Technofreak

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#419342 20-Dec-2010 10:55

PDAMan: As far as I know, no plans for Symbian.

Isn't that a bit short sighted? Worldwide Nokia smart phones out sell both Android and the iPhone combined, with the iPhone being outsold by a figure of about 3 to 1.

One would presume that this app would be very useful to overseas tourists whom it would be reasonable to assume own at least an equal number of Nokias as compared to the other smart phones.

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Ragnor

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#419363 20-Dec-2010 11:46

Technofreak:
PDAMan: As far as I know, no plans for Symbian.

Isn't that a bit short sighted? Worldwide Nokia smart phones out sell both Android and the iPhone combined, with the iPhone being outsold by a figure of about 3 to 1.

One would presume that this app would be very useful to overseas tourists whom it would be reasonable to assume own at least an equal number of Nokias as compared to the other smart phones.

You may have a point with Symbian marketshare in Asia but the other markets they are big in (Africa and South America) aren't that relevant for tourism in NZ.

http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/11/30/mobile-os-usage-splits-the-world-chart/

It would be interesting to see whether many tourists are using Nokia phones or whether Nokia's market share is all in the low end users thesedays (ones who are unlikely to be able to afford to tour NZ).

The other main factor is iOS and Android are probably easier to develop for.

freitasm

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#419375 20-Dec-2010 12:11

Although Nokia has done a big push to make it easier for developers by promoting QT (http://qt.nokia.com/products/platform/symbian/).

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Technofreak

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#419689 20-Dec-2010 20:54

Ragnor: You may have a point with Symbian marketshare in Asia but the other markets they are big in (Africa and South America) aren't that relevant for tourism in NZ.

http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/11/30/mobile-os-usage-splits-the-world-chart/

The other main factor is iOS and Android are probably easier to develop for.

You have a point with those figures however using those figures, where Nokia isn't number one it is still number 2 or 3 with the exception North America where it suffers badly from the (NIH) "Not Invented Here" syndrome.

I don't accept the argument about iOS and Andriod being easier to develop for. See MF's previous post.

I also contacted iVisit and got a prompt reply from the CEO who said that an Ovi app will come after Android, which is good news.

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PDAMan

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#419736 20-Dec-2010 22:38

Cool, that should see everyone happy:)

Luigi
Helping companies with location based problem solving, blogs and social media
SolomoConsulting
Find me on LinkedIn
Blog http://luigicappel.wordpress.com
Check out my songwriting